March of the Ants: Empires of the Earth
March of the Ants: Empires of the Earth Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
Empires of the Earth includes:
- 5 Old Tunnels (starting Chambers)
- 24 Mutations
- 60 Ant cards (24 Evolutions, 14 Events, 10 Colony Objectives, 12 Chambers)
- 2 Quick Setup cards
- 2 Rules cards
- 3 Queen's Decrees
- 60 food token stickers
Chambers
Chambers are played the same way as all other cards, with some differences.
When you play a Chamber card, you may pay a number of larvae/ants from 1 up to the maximum the Chamber allows. For each larva or ant you pay, place 1 larva/egg from your supply into the Chamber.
If your supply has no eggs left, you may place a larva or an ant into a Chamber instead. If you have received a larva and your supply has no eggs left, you may remove an egg from one of your Chambers.
You may place an egg in a Chamber only if that Chamber has free space.
Eggs in Chambers may only be used to activate the Chamber's ability. They may not be used to march to the Meadow, to pay card costs, or to feed ants.
Each Chamber shows the Phase in which it activates (Worker, Soldier or Queen Phase). To activate a Chamber, all of its spaces must be filled. After activation, return all of its eggs to your supply.
Each time you perform a Reaction, you may instead place a larva/egg into one of your Chambers.
Chamber example:
- The red player plays Scavenger's Cache, paying 2 larvae. He places 2 eggs from his supply into Scavenger's Cache.
- When the blue player plays a card, the red player adds 1 egg from his supply to Scavenger's Cache as a Reaction (instead of discarding a card to draw a new one).
- Scavenger's Cache is full. At the start of the Queen Phase, the red player chooses to activate it. He returns all eggs from Scavenger's Cache to his supply and collects resources from each unoccupied site in one hex. He chooses the Fungalreach hex and collects food and a larva.
Card text printed on Scavenger's Cache: "Start of Queen Phase: Collect from all unoccupied sites in any one hex."
Old Tunnels
Old Tunnels are a special kind of Chamber with which each player begins the game. All Old Tunnels have a base ability that is activated during the Queen Phase.
Old Tunnels differ from Chambers in the deck in that they may be used only once; after they are activated, they must be discarded.
Experienced players may use the reverse side of the Old Tunnels, each of which offers an asymmetric ability that works for the whole game.
Mutations
Mutation cards are similar to Evolution cards but have several key differences. To play with Mutations, before the game begins, shuffle all Mutation cards and deal 4 to each player.
Each player chooses 2 Mutations and places them on the matching body part of their Nest. Return the unused Mutations to the game box. You receive the ability of each Mutation until an Evolution card is placed on the same body part, after which the Mutation is discarded.
If a player is dealt 4 Mutations for the same body part, shuffle all Mutations and deal 4 new ones to every player.
Key differences between Mutations and Evolutions:
- Mutations do not give caste bonuses.
- Mutations are chosen at the start of the game and cannot be obtained in any other way.
- Mutations are not Evolutions (they cannot be affected by cards that interact with Evolutions). Mutations do not count toward colony points for a fully developed ant.
- Mutations are discarded when an Evolution is played on that body part.
Mutation example:
- At the start of the game, shuffle the Mutation cards and deal 4 to each player.
- Each player chooses 2 Mutations to add to the body of their ant, then discards the 2 unused Mutations.
- When the blue player plays Mapmaker Thorax, he does not receive 3 colony points for a fully developed ant, because Mutations do not count as Evolutions.
- During feeding, the blue player must pay 1 food for every 4 ants, because Mutations do not give caste bonuses.
Card text, Mapmaker Thorax (Evolution): "When played, and at the start of each Worker Phase, reveal the topmost hex and place it connected to any other hex in the Meadow."
Card text shown in the example diagrams (Mutations): Hunter Head - "At the start of Soldier Phase move any number of larvae to hexes with Centipedes." Cannibal Ant Abdomen - "During feeding you may feed any number of ants with 1 larva each." The remaining text printed on the example cards is not legible in the source sheet and is not transcribed here; consult the cards themselves.
Tactics
Tactics are a type of basic card. Tactics have no cost and may be played only during a battle as a player's Ferocity card. A Tactic adds the Ferocity shown on the card, plus an immediate effect that takes place before the outcome of the battle is determined. Depending on the outcome of the battle, a Tactic may also give an additional effect.
Rules for playing Tactics:
- The Attacker's Tactic effects are applied before the Defender's Tactic effects.
- Tactics cannot be played with the "Play a card" action, but they can be played as a result of cards and hex abilities that allow you to play cards. All Tactic cards have a cost of zero (0).
Queen's Decrees
These cards create a public objective that all players strive to achieve. A Queen's Decree works like a Colony Objective, but the points reward goes to the player who best fits the Decree's criteria at each Slumber.
Setup: Randomly take 1 Queen's Decree card and place it next to the Great Tunnel.
At each Slumber, colony points are awarded to the player who best fits the conditions of the Decree. Colony points for a Decree equal the number of rounds played, so it will be worth 1 point in the first round and 4 points at the end of the game. If two players are tied on a Queen's Decree, each player receives 1 colony point.
Example Queen's Decree, Adaptive Colony: card text reads "Each Slumber, the colony with the most Evolutions gains [crown icon] equal to the Round number." The crown icon is printed on the card as shown in the source sheet.
Solo and Cooperative Play
The Empires of the Earth expansion is compatible with the solo and cooperative versions of March of the Ants and Minions of the Meadow. For cooperative play, mix the March of the Ants cards with the Empires of the Earth cards. In solo play you may play with only the Empires of the Earth cards, or mix them with the March or Minions cards. Follow the usual setup rules for solo and cooperative play from March or Minions, with the additional steps below for solo play.
Mutations: Remove all Mutations with the centipede icon from the Mutation deck. Take 4 random Mutations and choose 2 to keep.
Chambers: 6 Chambers are marked for the Centipede deck. Chambers count as Evolution cards when the Centipede draws them. The deck contains 6 Chambers, plus the starting Old Tunnel Chamber. Because a solo game has no other players to react to, Chambers work by different rules here. Each time the centipedes take an Evolution (or a Chamber) as their action, you may add one egg from your supply to each of your Chambers. Chambers activate in the usual way.
Difficulty level: As a solo player, you start with an advantage of two Mutations and an Old Tunnel, so you may want to play at a higher difficulty level.
For more information, or answers to questions not covered here, visit www.weirdcitygames.com/empires.
Food Stickers
These stickers can be applied to the food tokens included with March of the Ants to add some flavour to the game.
Card Notes
Cult of the Gray Queen: This Colony Objective has an immediate effect when played, which repeats at each Slumber. Food placed on this card does not count as food and cannot be eaten by ants.
Broker Peace: Your opponent has a choice: leave this card in play after it is played. If they already have two objectives in their colony, they must discard one of them if they want to play Broker Peace.
Tireless Wanderers / Visionary Colony / Future's Promise: Food placed on these cards does not count as food and is used only as a counter. Food is not a limited resource in March of the Ants. If you do not have enough food tokens, you may use any other token or item to track how many times you have performed a given action.
Insurrection: Battles are fought only between you and one opponent. If a hex would have several battles, fight only the first one.
Solidarity: This gives each other player, including your opponent, the option to sacrifice an ant to increase your Ferocity in battle. If no other players sacrifice an ant, you draw 1 card.
Devious Head: If your opponent has an ability that lets them play several cards, you may exchange one of your Ferocity cards for any of your opponent's Ferocity cards. You may exchange your Ferocity card for the second card that the Centipede plays, before it is revealed.
Free Chamber Card Play: If the effect of a card or hex lets you play a Chamber card for free, it enters play with zero (0) eggs.
Defensive Shelter: Eggs may be sent to this Chamber as the result of a Reaction or as the result of battle losses.
Empires Architect / Greener Grasses: The two conditions for gaining colony points on these cards are independent. You may fulfil one or both.
Growths: These special Evolutions may be applied to any body part and give the caste bonus of the body part on which they are played. After play, they count as the body part on which they are played (head / thorax / abdomen).
Benign Growth: May be played on the ant body of any player, to cover one of their Evolutions.
Ant Steps vs. Larvae Steps: Unless the card says otherwise, all larva steps must be taken before ant steps.
Queen's Road: A tunnel consists of a series of hexes connected by tunnels. Each hex may be counted only once. The Great Tunnel cannot be part of a tunnel. Wormholes do not count as connecting hexes.
Worker Phase Chambers: These may be activated several times during a single Worker Phase.